


street lights, glowing

by CyrusBreeze



Series: Fifteen Fics I’ll Never Fucking Finish [3]
Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Angst, F/M, Medical Inaccuracies, Parent-Child Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 10:50:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14235669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyrusBreeze/pseuds/CyrusBreeze
Summary: Mark Sloan and Lexie Grey were supposed to be together forever. But life had other plans. Lexie got pregnant, and Mark decided that Addison was right and that he’d be a horrible father.Eight years later, however, Lexie moves back to Seattle for a prestigious surgical experiment. How will Mark react to seeing his child for the first time? And is it too late for him to be a good father.





	street lights, glowing

**Author's Note:**

> So, on the scale of this ever being finished, with ten beingthis will absolutely be finished one day, this is like a negative three. 
> 
> I love Slexie so much, but at the end of day, I don’t think I’ll ever finish this fic. 
> 
> Read Chapter 1 at your own risk. 
> 
> Also, I researched like hell about mito, but google only does so much. Also, the treatments referenced are not real life treatments, but they are based off of ones that I researched.

Lexie Grey woke to bright blue eyes staring at her. 

"Hi, Ezekiel," she mumbled quietly, shifting in bed. 

Ezekiel blinked. 

"Good morning, Mom," Ezekiel said. 

Lexie ran her fingers through her son's curls. Seven years old and already a carbon copy of his dad. "How's that heart this morning?" 

Ezekiel adjusted his glasses and glanced at his hospital issued heart monitoring watch. That tiny piece of metal gave Lexie so much piece of mind. 

"Eighty nine and feeling fine," Ezekiel said proudly. "It was only one hundred and two when I stood up for the first time this morning." 

“And where’s your oxygen?” Lexie asked. Zeke could go a few hours a day without his oxygen, but mornings for him were usually tough.

“I was feeling good after I woke up,” Zeke said. “Uncle J checked my lungs and said I should be fine until after breakfast.” 

Lexie nodded. “As long as Uncle J is okay with it, but after breakfast you have to at least put on your mask, okay?” 

"Okay," Zeke agreed. 

“Now.” Lexie grinned. "Do I smell cinnamon rolls?" 

Ezekiel nodded. "Auntie Jazz said to wake you up." 

Both Lexie and Ezekiel sat up on the bed. 

“Is your iPad charged?” Lexie asked. 

"Yeah," Zeke said. "I'm gonna watch How to Train Your Dragon 2." 

Lexie stood up and helped Ezekiel up. 

He grabbed his cane from the side of the bed and then followed Lexie to the kitchen. 

The kitchen and dining area were relatively chaotic. With six people currently living in the house, breakfast when everyone was home was usually crazy. 

Lexie eyed her best friend, Joaquin, who sat on the counter eating a bowl of cereal. It was sugary and probably full of cholesterol, a true irony considering that Joaquin was in pediatric cardio surgery.

Joaquin's sister, Mya, quietly chewed a cinnamon roll at the kitchen table as she talked with Alaina, who was eating a bowl of fruit. 

"Good morning," Jahaziel, known mainly as Jazz or Dr. Hollis, said from the stove. She was putting cinnamon rolls on a plate. "I know you worked late last night, but I figured you'd want to get up and eat in enough time to get to the hospital for Zeke's appointment." 

Lexie nodded as she sat at the table. She didn't get in until 1 o'clock the previous morning, and six hours of sleep had done little to rejuvenate her. She had to be at the hospital in an hour, and she hadn't even showered or gotten dressed. 

"I'm just drained," Lexie said. “But I’m off tomorrow and Sunday, so hopefully I can get well rested.”

Jazz handed Lexie a plate with a cinnamon roll and some grapes. "Eat and go get dressed and Joaquin and I will make sure that Zeke gets fed," she reassured Lexie. 

Lexie sighed and took a bite of her roll. It was delicious. 

Zeke removed his shirt, even though he didn't have to, but Lexie knew t was his favorite How to Train Your Dragon shirt and he would cry if he got formula on it. 

Jazz brought over Zeke's pump and Zeke carefully connected himself to the feeding pump. 

"Nice job," Lexie commented, and her son beamed. Lexie finished per cinnamon roll and stood up, depositing her dish in the sink. 

Jazz turned on the pump as Zeke pulled out his iPad and started an episode of Dragons: Race to the Edge. 

Lexie walked back to her room and into the ensuite that connected her room with Zeke's. 

She quickly removed her clothes and stepped into the steaming water, washing away the previous day's sweat and grime. She should've showered last night, and now she had to put her sheets in the laundry, but she was just so exhausted the only thing she wanted to do was sleep. 

It was tough: working seventy hours a week, parenting a medically complex child, shuffling Zeke to therapy and school, and still finding time for groceries. She was exhausted near constantly, but she wouldn't trade her situation for anything. She loved her boy and she loved her job, and she loved her friends. They were god sent, and without them she'd be unable to stay afloat. 

Lexie stuck her head under the spray of water and let it drench her skin. It was refreshing, and she felt herself calm. 

Lexie sighed, washed her body, and stepped out of the showers. She dried herself with a towel and quickly dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. Lexie pulled her hair into a ponytail and lightly applied a coat of makeup.

She tossed her clothes into the hamper and then walked out of the bathroom. 

Zeke was sitting on the bed, wearing his oxygen backpack. 

"I took my meds," Zeke said proudly. "All by mouth. No gagging." 

Lexie sat down next to her son and gave him a hug. "Nice job," she said. "We'll make sure Ms. Leah knows when we go to therapy next week."

Zeke grinned. "You ready to go?" He asked Lexie. 

"Sure, bud," Lexie said. "And I'm bringing your chair." 

Zeke groaned. 

"You are always tired after infusion,” Lexie said. "And your legs are going to hurt." 

Zeke sighed and scrunched his nose. He was the carbon copy of his father when he did that. "Fine," he said. "But I don't like it." 

Lexie smiled at her kid. "Let's go," she said. 

-X- 

Ezekiel Apollo Grey loved Dr. Raymond's office. It was where he had had every genetic appointment in his seven years of life. Dr. Raymond specialized in children and adolescents with mitochondrial disease (like Zeke) and other rare genetic disorders, so his waiting room was always filled with kids from all walks of life. 

It was where he didn't feel different. All of the other kids in the waiting room had a similar diagnosis. They received a similar treatment: medication infusion. He had friends here, and a lot of them were extremely sick, some of them even sicker than he was. And Ezekiel was sick, very sick. 

He had had thirteen surgeries in his life. Three of them were on his heart. Three were on his brain. Two were on his lungs. One was on his liver. Two were on his eye muscles and optic nerve. Two were on his intestines and bowels. And one was to insert his gastrostomy tube. 

He had been through a lot, but we wouldn't trade it for anything. He was tough, and strong, and he was brave. Besides. he wouldn’t have his best friend if he wasn’t sick. 

"Ezekiel Grey," a nurse called into the waiting room. 

Ezekiel stood up and swung his oxygen backpack on his shoulders. 

He and his mom followed the nurse back to the office. 

"Let's do some vitals today," the nurse said with a smile. She measured his weight, his height (both of which had no change since last time), checked his blood pressure, his pulse oximeter, and his temperature. His stats were close to perfect, so they were okay to continue his procedures today. 

Dr. Randall came in four minutes and twelve seconds later. Ezekiel knew because he had watched exactly four minutes and thirteen seconds of How to Train Your Dragon 2 from the moment that the nurse left the room. 

"Hey, buddy," Dr. Randall said. 

"Hi," Ezekiel said. 

"Today," Dr. Randall began. "We're gonna do some medication infusion. So you might feel very tired, and you may wanna throw up."

"Okay," zeke said. He had heard this spiel many times before. It happened before every appointment. 

"Do you have something to do?" Dr. Randall asked. "It's gonna be a little bit longer than normal today."

Zeke held up his iPad. "I'm gonna watch How to Train Your Dragon on Netflix." 

"That's good," Dr. Randall said. "And what about you Mom?" Dr. Randall glanced at Zeke's mother. 

"I have to be in the neuro department in thirty-" Zeke's mom's pager went off. "Right now, apparently." His Mom sighed and kissed his forehead. "See you later, Z," she said. "Tell Dr. Randall to page me if you need me. I'll come visit on my lunch break." 

"Bye, mommy," Zeke said. "Go save some lives!" He cheered. "I love you more than I love Dragons, which is a lot a lot," he clarified. 

"I love you more than I love neurosurgery," his mom said. 

His mom laughed. "Bye, Zeke," she said, and then she took off at a run. 

Zeke laid back on the bed. He was tired, and he had nine more hours to go. Now was as good a time as any to take a nap. 

-X-

"Three month old in need of a myelomeningocele repair. He's been treated for severe infection where his nerves are exposed and needs surgery as soon as possible to prevent further damage," Dr. Martin, the head of fetal and neonatal surgery said. 

"He's three months old and hasn't had his myelomeningocele repaired?" Lexie asked incredulously as she placed her hands under the spray of warm water. "How have they gone so long without treatment?" 

"He's been hospitalized at Beverly since shortly as his birth," Dr. Martin explained. "He was born prematurely, so he wasn't stable enough for transport until yesterday afternoon." 

Lexie nodded. "Are there parents that I should talk to?" 

Dr. Martin shook her head. "They had foster parents for him, but they had to back down due to a family emergency. His biological mother abandoned him at the hospital."

"That's rough," Lexie said. "He's so little, and he has no one." 

"I can't understand parents sometimes," Dr. Martin said. "How do you just walk away from your child, your sick child?" 

Lexie was quiet as a brief image of Zeke floated into her mind. People, adults, made decisions all the time that no one else understand. Mark had made a similar decision, and Lexie would never be able to understand. 

-X-

Lexie stood in the line for soup at the cafeteria. She had already down two surgeries, and one was scheduled for the afternoon. After that, she was free, but the day already felt impossibly long. She spooned herself some chili. 

She felt two hands on her shoulders and she jumped, nearly knocking chili on herself. 

"What the-?" Lexie turned around to face her attacker. 

"Holy shit, sorry," the voice said apologetically. 

Lexie sighed and gave one of her closest friends a hug. "I could've burned myself," she said as she pulled away. 

Madison rolled her eyes. "It would've been first degree at its worst, which heals beautifully." 

Lexie snorted at the plastic surgeon. "It would still be unnecessary pain." 

Madison laughed. "Sorry," she said. 

"I feel like you're not sorry, but whatever," Lexie rolled her eyes. "What are you doing here?" She asked Madison. 

"Check up," Madison answered. 

"I thought you guys were doing everything out of Seattle now," Lexie said.

"Dr. Randall wanted to do a three month follow up," Madison explained. "He wanted to see how she's holding up with treatment in Seattle." 

Lexie nodded approval and the new walked to the juice station and grabbed two juice boxes: one for her and one for Zeke. "Have you guys seen Zeke yet?" Lexie asked. 

Madison shook her head. "We just got here an hour ago, and Zeke was asleep when we came in." 

"How's Ari doing?" Lexie asked. 

"Fantastic," Madison responded. "She started cheer at her new gym last weekend and she loves it, and we've only done one hospitalization for 48 hours when she caught a bug. How's Zeke?" 

"He had a blood test done a few days ago and his functioning mitochondrial account is higher than its ever been," Lexie said. "And we've had a few issues, but nothing too major. He's doing spectacular. We've had one hospitalization for a week because of norovirus, but that's it."

"Norovirus kills my soul every time it comes around. How are you holding up?" Madi asked as the two of them sat down at a table. 

"Tired," Lexie answered honestly. "But when am I not tired?" 

Madi laughed. "I know that's right," she said. 

"How are you liking Seattle Children's?" Lexie asked. 

"It's amazing," Madi said. "It's what I wanted to do when I said I wanted to go into plastic surgery. I've done a few surgeries on this little boy with Treacher-Collins. His parents adopted him from China and he's simply amazing. He's nine and his confidence levels have skyrocketed since the first surgery. He says no one bullies him at school anymore. That, Lexie," Madi continued. "That is why I went into plastics, so that all those beautiful little ones don't have to get bullied. Sure, boob jobs and rhinoplasties are great, but nothing can compare to knowing that you helped a little boy have a normal life. And I get to do that every single day."

"Glad you're enjoying yourself," Lexie said. "I miss Seattle sometimes. But who knows? I might be moving back soon." She took a bite of her chili. It was one thing that was infinitely better than Seattle Grace. Boston's hospital food didn't suck. 

"You should come visit sometime, even if you don't get in on that DIPG study," Madi said. "Maybe we could persuade you with our amazing Seahawks."

"I'm forever a Pats fan," Lexie laughed. "But football isn't near enough to bring me to Seattle, especially if I have to deal with he who must not be named."

"I don't blame you," Madi said. "He's a piece of shit." 

Lexie sighed. "Zeke asks about him more often now. I'm trying to keep him from thinking that his dad didn't want him."

"I took Ari to see her father's grave," Madi said. "It was tough, but I think it seemed to concrete a lot of things in her mind. She asked a lot of questions afterward." 

"How are you feeling about it?" Lexie asked her friend. 

Madi only offered a simple shrug. "It's life," she said. "And life is tough, but I've got a helmet."

-X-

Lexie headed to Zeke's room with a container of strawberry applesauce. He hated consuming anything during his infusions, but applesauce, and only the strawberry applesauce that came in a pouch, was his only exception.

Lexie entered his room. Dr. Randall was speaking with a gentleman in a suit. Zeke was sleeping, curled up into a ball. 

"Good afternoon," Lexie said. 

"Good afternoon, Dr. Grey," Lexie said. "I was just showing Dr. Maddox here our infusion program. He's considering doing his fellowship in my department."

"Nice," Lexie said. "Dr. Randall is fantastic. His program here is amazing." 

Dr. Maddox smiled. "It's definitely my #1 after my boards. Your son definitely has a very unique case." 

A pager went off and both Lexie and Dr. Randall looked at their respective pagers. 

"I have to go," Dr. Randall said. "Lexie, if you're comfortable, could you tell Dr. Maddox about your son's case? He's very interested in rare disorders."

Lexie smiled. "I'm fine with that," she said. 

"Alright," Dr. Randall said. He stepped out of the room. 

"So, how old is Ezekiel?" Dr. Maddox asked. 

"He turned seven in December," Lexie answered. "He's a little small for his age." 

Dr. Maddox nodded. "I think Dr. Randall said he's not even in the first percentile for weight." 

"He was diagnosed with failure to thrive at 11 months, but I'll start at the beginning." Lexie sat down in the chair beside Zeke's bedside. 

"He was diagnosed with HLHS in utero. They had to perform an emergency surgery immediately after birth," Lexie explained. "He spent three months in the NICU, and then he went home, and he was fine for about a month and a half. He wasn't really hitting his milestones, but he was born early and had had multiple surgeries so it wasn't too concerning. Then, he caught a cold at five months that never went away, so we eventually went to the hospital. He had a severe respirate infection. They put him on some antibiotics, and he did pretty well with him, until he started having seizures." 

"Wow," Dr. Maddox said. "That must've been tough."

"We got him on epilepsy medication, and he did well with that. He was home until he was seven months, and then he stopped being able to tolerate feeds. He went from being fifteen pounds to ten in less than a month. He was diagnosed with cyclic. They input an NJ tube to help with feeds, but he was struggling. He was diagnosed with failure to thrive at nine months, and after that things went downhill very quickly. They weren't sure that he would make it to his first birthday."

"So when did you start talking with Dr. Randall?" Dr. Maddox asked. 

"It was actually an intern who came up with the idea that Zeke had a mitochondria disorder. Her younger brother had one, and she remembered some of the symptoms. We did a muscle biopsy and confirmed his diagnosis. The next two years were spent pretty much constantly in the hospital. And then Dr. Randall moved here with an experimental treatment for disorders of the cells, namely mitochondrial, but he has a few patients with other diagnoses. The treatment takes his cells, replicates them, and then exposes them to a drug designed to develop mitochondria before they infuse them into his body over an eight hour period. One days worth of treatment usually lasts for two weeks. He's at his peak with the first week of treatment, but he slowly declines over the course of the two weeks. Currently, he's doing better than ever and his functioning for mitochondria is at an exceptional level." 

"So this treatment is actually working then?" Dr. Maddox asked. "It's not just maintaining? It's actually improving?" 

Lexie nodded. "I'm sure if you ask Dr. Randall when he comes back, he can show you the labs. They're pretty amazing." 

Dr. Maddox grinned. "I think I might love this place," he said.

“Honestly,” Lexie grinned. “It’s kinda hard not to.” 

-X-

After she laid Zeke down and hooked him up for his overnight feeding, Lexie showered, changed her filthy sheets, and laid down in her bed. 

She was beyond exhausted, and she couldn't think of anything better to end her Friday with than a solid ten hours of sleep. She had planned to take Zeke and Alaina to Chuck E. Cheese's the next day, so she was going to need all the energy she could muster. It didn't sound particularly appealing: the screaming kids, loud music and lights, and the germs, but the kids loved it there, so Lexie allowed the kids a visit once every three months if they behaved. 

She was curled under her covers, absentmindedly watching HGTV when Joaquin appeared in the doorway. 

"Your phone was in the kitchen," Joaquin said holding up her iPhone. 

"Unless it's God," Lexie said. "I don't event want to look at that thing."

"You got an email from Seattle Children's," Joaquin said. 

Lexie stood and walked to the doorway, snatching her phone and immediately opening her email app. 

Dear Dr. Alexandra Grey, 

It is our pleasure to inform you that we have accepted your application for a position within our DIPG research and trial department. Your resume and record were impeccable and we believe that you’d be an invaluable addition to this team. 

This is the only such department west of the Mississippi and is one of three in the entire nation and six in the entire world. This is a very prestigious project and we are delighted to work with you. An email containing moving information and other pertinent information will be sent within the next 24 hours. 

The trial begins on July 1, but we would prefer that you arrive between June 12 and 26 to get oriented with the hospital and our team. 

Congratulations, 

Elias Abbot, M.D., F.A.C.S.  
Head of Pediatric Neurosurgery  
Seattle Children's Hospital 

"So?" Joaquin asked. "What does it say?" 

"I'm in," Lexie said incredulously. "I'm in." 

"I knew you could do it!" Joaquin cheered. "I'm so proud of you!" He crushed her into a hug.

Lexie grinned. "Thanks, Joaquin," she said. 

She was in shock. She hadn't expected to get into the research project. Sure, she had letters of recommendation from one of the best neurosurgeons in the world and the best pediatric neurosurgeon in the country, but it still managed to feel surreal. 

"Wow," she mumbled as Joaquin released her. "Wow," she repeated. 

"You're going to Seattle," Joaquin said. 

"I'm going to Seattle," Lexie repeated. 

Holy shit. She was going to Seattle.

**Author's Note:**

> Loved it? Hated it? Please validate me with comments, lmao.


End file.
